Well, my week in Arizona has come to a quick end. I am saddened to leave, but excited to see my family, and come back to my practice. This week has been an incredible professional invigoration for me, and exactly what the doctor ordered.

Since I have been spending my days in a classroom, I decided to take this evening to explore my hotel property. The Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, is a 65 acre piece of property, that is vast and quite beautiful. I choose this hotel because it was within walking distant to my class. It also offered all dentists a very good room rate for the week…..nice perk. The staff have been wonderful, and the food has been a culinary treat. Thanks for a great time and I look forward to being back in the future!

My stay in Arizona has been almost solely devoted towards my continuing education. Each day is filled with a wealth of dental knowledge and exciting new ideas. I leave every day feeling inspired and so committed to making my career the best it can be. However, not soon after leave the conference center, I begin to feel the need to adventure out into the surrounding areas. So each evening I have been able to spend a couple of hours seeing the area, and the one thing I can say is…….Arizona is HOT!

Palm Trees at my hotel.

Outside seating at the hotel…..too hot to sit outside, but very pretty!

Have you ever seen the 70′s TV show Sanford and Son? Well, if you have not, you have missed out on a real piece of television history. As a child, I absolutely loved the show. It was a based on a father and son, and the craziness that surrounded their family junkyard. During our recent office vacation, I was reminded of this show….let me explain. While on vacation, our office had new computer cables run, and new computers installed. The old computers (12 plus years) had sadly, met their dimise. And for those of you who do not know, I love technology, but I especially like organization! Technology absolutely excites me, and the field of dentistry is constantly inundated with new technology everyday; new and improved office programs, patient education systems, and even ways to do in office procedures. So, as you can imagine, I was so excited about our new high speed computers, I could barely contain myself.

After a nice, relaxing, week long vacation, I returned to work Monday morning. I was refreshed, happy, and ready to solve the world’s dental problems. However, that came to a screetching halt as I walked into my office. No words could describe the massive chaos that had taken over. Sitting in middle of my office were ALL the old CPUs, what appeared to be thousands of cords, multiple mouses and screens everywhere. I was so completely overwhelmed by the mass of confusion in my office, that I could not even enjoy my new technology, because the old technology, and all it’s chaos had taken over! Sanford and Son had moved in, and I was not happy.

So, I did what most rational, middle-aged women would do; I shut my door and walked out. I was not going to let my old technology affect my new technology. After recovering from a mild temper tantrum, I entered my office, reorganized the mess and made a call to have the computers donated.

Most everyone I know has a mentor, either professionally, personally or both. My professional mentor for the last several years has been Dr. Frank Spears. He is an incredibly gifted dentist and phenomenal speaker. I have spent many years years wanting to participate in one of his seminars, but due to the demands of my young family and growing practice, I never felt like I could take the necessary time away. Years started to pass me by, and like many professionals I found myself in a bit of a “professional slump.” So, I decided that 2011 was going to be the year to embark upon my professional growth. In March of this year, I made the commitment to start my professional growth, and enrolled in my first week long seminar and hands-on series by Dr. Frank Spears.

Well, I am finally here for my course and I could not be more excited. The wait has well been worth it, I truly feel like I have found the right path of educational advancement for me. It is an unbelievable experience to be surrounded by people from ALL around the world, who are all here striving for the same common goal; becoming better dentists and better providers for their patients.

This class has been the perfect reminder for me, that our professional learning never stops, and in order for me to provide the best best possible quality of care for my patients it is imperative that I continue my educational advancement.